Cassettes are making a comeback. Yes, really

In search of a new way to generate revenue, the music industry is pressing rewind.

Yes, cassette tapes have forged a smallscale comeback.

An increasing number of artists, including Metallica, Mac DeMarco and Foals, are issuing new music in limited-edition runs of cassettes. Arcade Fire recently announced a six-song compilation of unreleased tracks that will be confined to cassette. And Oct. 17 will bring the third annual Cassette Store Day, with tapes from Green Day, Method Man and Sebadoh.

But given the practical snags associated with the format — inferior sound, lack of song selection, expedited deg- radation — and the relative scarcity of cassette players, is it possible to build a case for cassettes beyond trendy kitsch?

“Some people buy it for nostalgia, but I think a lot of younger people who didn’t grow up with tapes at all buy them for novelty,” said Luke Lalonde, frontman for Toronto indie-rockers Born Ruffians. “It’s like: ‘Weird, I remember seeing these on my dad’s shelf.’ ”

Born Ruffians will release their fifth album, RUFF, on Friday and, yes, it will be out on tape. Lalonde is no cassette connoisseur, though guitarist Andy Lloyd once gifted him a Walkman, but he does understand the appeal.

New artists take a walk down the long, rewinding road with releases on tape

“A lot of the people buying the tapes are younger people who come up to the merch table and want something they can shove in their purse or their pocket,” he said. “A lot of them will probably never get played.”

The band’s label, Paper Bag Records, released its first cassette last summer as a promotional tool for PS I Love You’s For Those Who Stay. Before the album’s release, the label stashed cassettes around several cities and staged a scavenger hunt.

The fact that the successful searchers would be unlikely to have the means to actually listen to the tapes was part of the stunt’s appeal, concedes Paper Bag production manager Brooke Morgan, since the label didn’t want the album to leak. But the format intrigued and soon Paper Bag initiated 200-copy cassette runs for albums by the Rural Alberta Advantage and Frog Eyes.

“It felt like a ridiculous opportunity to pursue, to make cassettes, when I don’t remember the last time I owned a tape player,” Morgan said. “But people are still buying them.

“I can never see making more than 200 because it’s definitely not something that’s flying off the shelves.”

And yet, in 2015 the cassette tape is not just an obsolete ornament for merchandise tables.

Several boutique labels deal primarily in the format, including Gnar Tapes, Burger Records and Memorials of Distinction.

Sonic Boom has a wall dedicated to tapes, though many are made by independent bands motivated by finance, not fashion. Soundscapes, meanwhile, makes room for only 20 to 30 tapes, and demand isn’t exactly sky- high.

“Similar to some people buying vinyl, it becomes a fetish object or a totem,” said Soundscapes buyer Craig Dunsmuir. “With the limitations of the format — in terms of the hiss sound, the treble — (tapes) lend themselves to certain genres better than others, like garage rock, hip hop or heavy metal.”

As it turns out, Born Ruffians’ latest is a scrappy, grimy-fingernails affair, a far cry from 2013’s polished Birthmarks. It’s a perfect fit for cassette — presuming anyone ever listens to it that way.

“I definitely wouldn’t be upset if people only listened to it on tape,” Lalonde said. “I’m not taking anything away from the production, but it’s an album that would only become more charming if you listened to it on tape.”